Monday, October 10, 2011

Deforestation reduces rainfall...?

Deforestation in the rainforests of West Africa reduces rainfall over the rest of the forest, according to new University of Leeds research published in Geophysical Research Letters.

The study shows that changing land use from forest to crop land reduces rainfall over neighbouring trees by around 50% due to changes in the surface temperature which affects the formation of rain clouds.
More information: 'How does local tropical deforestation affect rainfall' by L Garcia-Carreras and Douglas J Parker is published in Geophysical Research Letters doi:10.1029/2011GL049099http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL049099.shtml